Mark Ella unloads a hand grenade or ten

Fantastic article disagree about Beale who should have been sacked by that gutless p...k Pulver years ago

Michael Cheika must be held accountable for his witless Wallabies

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has once again made changes to the three-quarters, bringing back Bernard Foley to the No 10 position and moving Kurtley Beale to inside centre at the expense of Matt Toomua, who will start from the bench.

I feel that Cheika doesnít understand the complexities of backline play and just how important it is to select the right combinations.

He seems to be struggling and I doubt he will find much reward from Foley and Beale against Argentina this weekend.

The Wallabies attack last weekend against the Springboks was far too deep and at times they played the game on the back foot, making it impossible to bring the forwards into the game because they were always running backwards

I have been an advocate for Beale at five-eighth because I thought he could add more attacking flair from the scrum and lineout but he has lost his mojo and stands far too deep, sadly continually running across field instead of at least attempting to take the ball to the opposition before offloading.

But instead of using the discipline of Toomua, Cheika has again gone for the easy option by selecting Foley, who is more structured than Beale but also plays too deep.

Perhaps Cheika should have selected Toomua at No 10 with Reece Hodge at No 12, Israel Folau at No 13 and Foley and Beale on the bench, or at least one of them in the grandstand.

So, in reality, the Wallabies now have two important key *attacking players who like to stand too deep, to protect themselves, and who donít do what they are selected to do, which is create *opportunities for their teammates out wide.

Even Cheika would not be stupid enough to play the combination of Foley and Beale at 10 and 12 against the All Blacks and Springboks but he is hoping that the Pumas attack and defence may be a little more unstructured and this may give the Wallabies a chance to crack them open.

On the field, Beale is hard to *follow, particularly from broken phase play.

He obviously has a sanction to do what ever he likes but all this does is create *uncertainty and his supports have not got a clue what he will do next, making him even harder to follow.

My brother Glen was right when he said in a podcast this week that if the five-eighth runs across field, then it is up to the inside centre to straighten the attack but again it is obvious that neither Cheika nor backs coach Stephen Larkham have any idea of the fundamentals of the game.

They must be made to draw the defence before offloading.

Otherwise, pick players who can but that in itself is a conundrum for Australian teams when the basic skills of catching and passing seems to be too hard for our current crop of players.

Anyone who has read this column over the years would know how I have been bemoaning the lack of skills from our elite Super Rugby players through to the Wallabies and it is no surprise to me that it is coming to an ungracious end and the truth unfortunately is out there for all to see.

Israel Folau contributed little to the Wallabiesí efforts against the Springboks and he has to lift his game and contribute rather than playing it safe.

Emerging players like Dane Haylett-Petty and Reece Hodge are doing their best but rely heavily on Beale and Foley to set them up. But they are getting no assistance at all and have to wing it when they get the football.

Will Genia must take more control of the Wallabies three-quarters, which is harder at No 9, but the Wallabies backline is so uncoordinated and often bumbling that his experience is needed to keep everyone focused and continually questioning their *attacking options and defensive patterns.

For some reason, Beale feels compelled to kick the ball across field to his best mate Folau, which is always a 50/50 gamble and while it may come off sometimes, it is time to give it up and perhaps try drawing the opposition and *creating an overlap for both our wingers to get the ball across the tryline.

This week, many rugby fans have been complaining about the crazy positioning of Wallabies captain Michael Hooper on the wing, which was utterly ridiculous when the team could have used the $6 million man at the rucks and mauls instead of leaving all the hard work to David Pocock.

Hooper played this style of stupid rugby for the Waratahs when Cheika was coach. It didnít make sense to me then and it still doesnít make sense to me now.

None of this makes any sense, which is why many fans are demanding answers from Cheika, his entourage of assistant coaches, the players and finally Rugby Australia, who are deathly quiet and seem clueless on how to fix the problem that is destroying the game.

ďThis week, many rugby fans have been complaining about the crazy positioning of Wallabies captain Michael Hooper on the wing, which was utterly ridiculous when the team could have used the $6 million man at the rucks and mauls instead of leaving all the hard work to David Pocock.

Hooper played this style of stupid rugby for the Waratahs when Cheika was coach. It didnít make sense to me then and it still doesnít make sense to me now.

None of this makes any sense, which is why many fans are demanding answers from Cheika, his entourage of assistant coaches, the players and finally Rugby Australia, who are deathly quiet and seem clueless on how to fix the problem that is destroying the game.Ē

Well Iím not a Beale fan and get frustrated like everyone else at his lack of defensive work, chip kicks, bombs, cross field kicks and crabbing across the paddock. 5 minutes of brilliance canít compensate for the other 75min of pain. Maybe Iím just poisoned by the who RA disaster?

He sure does override what Glen said in the Fox podcast where Glen was more reticent about criticising Cheika seeing as theyíre Ďmatesí. Markís less worried about ruffling the feathers which is refreshing, but agree with Bakkies, I canít understand the love affair people have withBeale. Is it political correctness just because heís indigenous, therefore we should all make allowances? Iím sure there are plenty of other young Aboriginal kids that havenít had the chances Bealeís had who probably have way more talent.

He sure does override what Glen said in the Fox podcast where Glen was more reticent about criticising Cheika seeing as theyíre Ďmatesí. Markís less worried about ruffling the feathers which is refreshing, but agree with Bakkies, I canít understand the love affair people have withBeale. Is it political correctness just because heís indigenous, therefore we should all make allowances? Iím sure there are plenty of other young Aboriginal kids that havenít had the chances Bealeís had who probably have way more talent.

The Ellas had a lot to do with his talent indentificaton, youth development and mentoring.

Well Iím not a Beale fan and get frustrated like everyone else at his lack of defensive work, chip kicks, bombs, cross field kicks and crabbing across the paddock. 5 minutes of brilliance canít compensate for the other 75min of pain. Maybe Iím just poisoned by the who RA disaster?

I agree totally - 5 minutes of brilliance is not enough in an 80 minute game